Month: October 2015

We expect 200 plus monsters, ghouls, princesses, jedi warriors and hobos to be at our doorstep tonight. Wifey wanted some scary pictures of her acting as a witch but none of those seemed acceptable. I also did some close ups of Sue and the brook at the bottom of the street.

Tomorrow, Sunday I’ll be finishing my coffeeneuring challenge by riding my bike from the head of the East Bay Bike Path in East Providence R.I. to the Head of the Blackstone River Bikeway, in Cumberland, R.I. I have a few coffee shops from which to choose in downtown Providence.

I got a call that my niece’s football team was playing their final home match of the season. Also the team was celebrating senior night. A 5 PM start under a full moon made this a great night for a bike ride. There are a few Full Moon Fiascos going on around the country. If your not familiar with them it’s worth checking out. There are chapters in Chicago, Illinois, Sandpoint, Iowa, Spokane, Washington, St. Louis, Missouri and of course, Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Check the website for next months ride.

The stadium was around eight miles away from my home and there was a busy city between her town and mine. Fortunately I grew up in the city and knew every which way to avoid most of the traffic and still have a very direct route to the stadium. It was so direct that I got there an hour before the scheduled start. It was getting chilly and I was starting to Jones for some coffee. The nearest spot was a -11 around a mile away. Having done many long distance tours, it’s not a big deal to back track a few miles for trivial reasons. Coffee was not trivial which made back tracking a mile kind of a no brainer. It was a coffee stop but doesn’t qualify for my coffeeneuring challenge.

The Dartmouth girls team was far superior to their opponent from Fall River which gave the coach a chance to play the seniors who normally don’t get a lot of playing time. With the score 2-0 and Dartmouth in full control, the officials awarded them a penalty kick. All the regular players gathered around one of those seniors and told her to take the spot kick. It was incredible. No keeper in the world at any level could have made the save on this one. It reminds me of a quote by golfer Lee Trevino when he said, “Every golfer has professional shots in him. The only difference is that the pros do it regularly”. This day #24 for Dartmouth had a world class moment, and everyone loved it.

The day began cool enough to dress like a bike riding chef from upstate NY. Well not that cold but you get the point.

chilly start to the ride.

It was 47 F when the ride began in East Providence R.I. this morning. The sun was shining and the wind was just a whisper. On the subject of the shining sun. It was 9 AM and I was riding east. All I could see was the sun and not the four people I almost rode into.

The East Bay Bike Path is a rail to trail conversion. It’s 16 miles from East Providence to Barrington, R.I.. When riding most rail to trail conversions, there is very little to see. Most were freight rails and towns are often quite a way off the trail. Much of the riding is on lonely dirt paths with miles and miles of nothing much. The East Bay rail road was a passenger rail that carried people to and from Providence for school, work, or connecting trains to New York or Boston and had stations in all five towns along the route. Main St. in all these places are no more than a block away.

Willie Wier , author and Adventure Cyclist has traveled all over the world on his bicycle. He set out to ride the KATY trail in Missouri a few years back. Hours and hours of riding on this trail and seeing no one really bothered him. One of the best things about bike touring is seeing things and meeting people. With that in mind, he got off the trail and did the rest of his week long bike ride on the streets and roads. Today I got off the trail on Warren R.I. in search of a decent coffee shop. While riding down Main St. I spotted a coffee shop with lots of activity. Even on this chilly day, the sidewalk tables were occupied. One thing I learned traveling is that good restaurants have full parking lots, and in this case, few available tables. I was pleasantly amazed when I entered the joint. It was very eclectic and looked very much like one of those men’s clubs you see on old movies. The Coffee Depot offered comfortable chairs, a library, and a counter from end to end filled with coffee shop goodies.

The Coffee Depot goodies section

Cappuccino and ricotta honey danish.

The temperature rose to the high fifties and I was treated to the full colors of fall in New England during my 20 mile ride.

About this Sunday’s Ride

Why this ride is special

This is a new route of an old favorite, updated by Pete Rice, which is designed to keep us off busy roads and is especially suited to late fall and early spring rides. The short ride travels the famous Ocean Drive with its majestic bay and ocean views, and then continues up Bellevue Avenue past the mansions.

The longer ride heads further up the island past Middletown’s farmlands and beaches.

Larry & Sue Rollins will lead a beginners/new riders group on the 18 mile loop.

I don’t really care about my average speed, but it is a good indication of improving fitness. Today was the last warm day for a while and I decided to get one more comfortable long ride under my belt. Tomorrow is movie day, so I doubt if I will get much of a ride in. Could happen, but probably not. I didn’t stop much on this 27 mile ride. I lost two miles on my Garmin trying to figure out again how this Touring one works.

I lost my Edge 200 which is nothing more than an expensive speed o meter. I do like it for long rides though. The Touring Garmin I own was used when I downloaded a gps route with turn by turn directions. The Edge will show up. I’m guessing when I clean the work bench in my bike shop which was nothing more than a junk draw all summer.

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Abandoned Hiking TrailClydesdalesOld House Foundation in the middle of the woods.The Bogs Hiking Trail in Matapoisett, Ma

Like this:

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It’s my second time on the road bike since May and it feels good. I’m glad I didn’t sell old Gertrude. A friend asked if I was going to blog today’s ride. I said no, I was going to ride hard and make it a fitness ride. A point and shoot camera was next to the Garmin and as I was leaving, I grabbed both. Today was the first day that the fall colors were noticeable. Funny how one day everything is green and two days later the colors have burst like a Hindi Festival of Color.

Today’s ride was 27 miles at a moderate speed with a couple of photo stops. I couldn’t help myself. Not much to say about the ride except the sights were pretty groovy.

I called for an 8:30 meeting for anyone who wanted to ride the Shining Sea Bike Trail a 10.5 mile rail to trail conversion from Falmouth to Wood’s Hole on Cape Cod, MA. When any of us in our group put the word out for a ride we have no idea how many would show. It could be a solo ride or a critical mass. Today was closer to the latter.

Steve had never done this ride, which as most rail to trail MUPs, are pretty secluded. I took him off the path a couple of times to ride along the waterfront. The scenery is so much better, to say the least.

When we arrived at Wood’s Hole, I explained to many in the group about the coffeeneuring challenge. We’ll see how many new faces show from Quincy and other Massachusetts bike clubs. Many or should I say all but two riders, piled into the Pie In The Sky cafe. Steve and I went to Coffee Obsession on Water St. Both have very good coffee with good Baristas.

Very crowded Pie in the Sky Cafe in Wood’s Hole, MAOverflow bike parking at Pie in the Sky Cafe. Wood’s Hole, MaRiding our bikes along Buzzard’s Bay at Wood’s Hole, MANice downhill leaving the light station at Wood’s Holeamidnightrider and the Nobska Point light stationFerry and Steve PrinceNobska Point light stationFerry bound for Martha’s Vineyard on Buzzards Bay at Wood’s hole.Approaching Nobska Point in Wood’s Hole, Ma

The intent was to ride a few miles to a local animal shelter and do come comp work on the phone system. The ride began with the sun shining, only a wisp of wind and warm temperatures. It wouldn’t take long to install the phones so breakfast was postponed till after the job was done. A quick stop into a local super market for an apple to tide me over would be perfect. Things changed very quickly and exiting the market I saw this.As always, click any photo for big. Click again for bigger. Hit the back button to return to the story

Storm Brewing

I needed 10 minutes to get into the city and that seemed like it would be cutting it close. I stopped at the local McDonald’s to use their internet to check the weather. It was going to be close but I decided to go for it. Like the game show where you have money in your hand or you can risk it all for a grand prize. The money in my hand was coffee at McDonalds or take a chance on crossing the river to Green Bean Cafe for a wonderful cappuccino and a blueberry scone.

The choice was easy.Waiting out the storm

While having coffee, I got a call that the phone system was up and working at the animal shelter and I had the day to myself.

I hadn’t been on the road bike since May. There is a story to that but it’s not interesting. I got old Gurtrude aka Yellow Bike ready for her first road ride since then. We will tack on an additional 30 miles this afternoon just to kick start the mojo for some serious road riding over the next few weeks beginning tomorrow.

SATURDAY

Falmouth to Wood’s Hole on the Shining Sea bike trail. Met at the parking lot on RT 151 #16 on this map. Be there for an 8:30 AM start.

A slow fall ride for coffee today. I had planned to ride more but things didn’t work out. I did get in around 10 miles with a stop at Green Bean, in the city of New Bedford, also called the Whaling City, on Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts. The Green Bean is likely to be one of my coffeeneuring challenge stops in the future, but not today.

The Phoenix Bike Path takes me along a spot that is, “my favorite place”. It’s a great place to stop, relax and watch the wildlife, which I often do. Today I was in a bit of a rush to meet people for coffee and had no plan on stopping. Nature flashed me such a spectacular sight I had no choice but to turn back take out my camera and share the following. Things worked out because I missed having coffee at McPtomain’s and ended up at a great hipster joint in the city.

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